What is great about an iPhone or iPad is you can install any new app you want on your device from the official market via iTunes. This article will teach how to install any downloaded IPA on iPhone, iPad and other iOS devices.
Install IPA on iPhone
An IPA file is the installation archive for all iOS applications. They are protected by Apple’s DRM technology and help install new applications. They can be downloaded from external sources if they are not available in your App Store.
Installing IPA with Secure Shell
SSH or Secure Shell is a cryptographic protocol of communication that enables communication between iPhone or iPad and your personal computer.
Here are the steps to installing a downloaded .ipa file -
- Download and install the required SSH program, example winscp, cyberduck.
- Go to ‘Settings’> ‘Wi-Fi’ and tap the blue icon for the network to find the IP address of your device.
- Enter the IP address in ‘host’ field.
- Use the username=root and password=alpine/dottie for login data.
- Rename the .ipa file to .ipa.zip file.
- Open this zip file using winzip or winrar.
- Extract the .app folder from the .zip part folder payload.
- Move the extracted file to the /stash/Application folder on your iOS device using the SSH client.
- Right click the .app folder and check all the boxes changing permission to 0777.
- Restart your iOS device and installation is complete.
Installing IPA with iFunbox
iFunbox enables SSH from phone so that you can edit and browse the file systems of the iOS device and also install IPA files.
You can install .ipa with iFunbox with the help of the following steps -
- Download and install the iFunbox.
- Connect the iOS device to your computer.
- Select the iFunbox device.
- Select ‘Install IPA’ option.
- Select the .ipa file and installation will begin.
- After installation is done, restart your iOS device and you are good to go.
Also Read - Best iPad Tips, Tricks
You might need AppSync for this process so it is recommended that you have it installed.